Wanted: New Home for a Lot of Russian Aluminum

U.S. sanctions leave Rusal with few buyers to absorb the metal

Aluminum from United Co. Rusal, the recently sanctioned Russian miner, is looking for a new home. But nobody knows where that home can be.

Rusal produced 3.7 million tons of aluminum last year, but U.S. sanctions mean that almost no Western buyer, or Washington’s allies like Japan, will touch the metal not placed on exchanges before Rusal-branded products were banned, analysts say.